Phone Envy - A chronological journey
I have had a number of mobile phones over the years. Some of loved, some I've hated, some only for a week, some for several years.
It all started for me with a Nokia 5180. My first mobile. Got it on a pay/go plan from Rogers and loved it. It had the game "Snake" on it. Loads of fun. And hey, it made phone calls... Had this phone from 1998-2004. Wha? 6 years?? Well, it did have longevity.
Next was the Motorola v551. I had always coveted the "flip" phones and this one was cheap with a contract so made the move from pay/go to contract. This one had a camera and I could play Gauntlet on it! This phone became the winner of a game of hide and seek and so I had to get something else. Now that I had some experience as a phone owner, I understood the desire for slim form factor as well as a desire for "cool factor". Next up?
The Razr.
I really loved this phone. I downloaded Motorola phone tools, a hex editor and I was in my geeky programmer heaven as I hacked and modded the phone. Yes, I am a NERD! Had my "Back in Black" ring tone and custom hacked skinning of the UI. So cool, and the phone worked too. Sadly I kept cracking the outer glass cover and after 3 good years of service, it began to drop calls.
Did I say I loved the Razr? It was one level of phone love. With the E71 a whole new level of phone love was experienced. This was my first experience with what I'll call a "superphone". basically a computer in your hand. At the time, it had front and rear cameras including LED flash, wifi, bluetooth, voip calling, free document editing, full browser INCLUDING FLASH, OVI maps and a super fast OS (symbian s60 3rd edition for the geeks out there) I got A LOT of mileage out of this phone. Had installed Garmin Turn by Turn voice Nav as well as internet radio and wefi! These apps exposed me to the world of apps and that the phone is important, but available apps is all the MORE. Ahh my first love. At times, I still miss you. the first phone I really loved, the Nokia E71.
With a change in jobs came the ability to have a work paid for device. This was a new concept and frankly VERY attractive. (Although with the amount of "volunteer" work I do on my device now I wonder who gets the better deal :-)" Corporate standard of course was Blackberry. At the time the new optical touchpad Blackberry Bold 9800 had recently come out and so this was my first "corporate" device. I tried this phone for 1 month and have to say did enjoy it although the apps were VERY limited compared to the OVI store offerings and the phone was very NON customizeable when comparing with the E71. Still spoiled by my first love, I waited to try something else.
"Something else" did show up in the DROID, released in Canada as the Motorola Milestone. Was this the next true love? Having connections with people in our Telecom department, they had offered to allow me to demo phones for them if I would write up pros/cons on the device and its use within the corporation. I finally got my hands on the Milestone. Probably a great phone and I really wanted to like it but it was too heavy and I realized that the combining of physical keyboard with large screen, which was my initial attraction as I was trying to move away from physical keyboard, was too annoying. It sat like a led weight in my pocket. I only explored this phone for about 2 weeks but what I did get to see first hand was ANDROID...
I liked Android OS. VERY powerful, fast and customizeable. In keeping with Android I thought the friendstream application looked handy on the Sony Xperia X10. It was the full move to no more physical keyboard. I liked the screen on this phone but it was too big in my hand it didn't "fit" right. Wasn't a huge fan of "friendstream" either. This phone was actually a fail IMO.
And finally we come to the HTC Google Nexus One! True love at last? In spades! This was the long awaited much hyped offering from Google and IMO was worth every bit of the hype and hoopla surrounding its release. I was able to procure a demo of one and used it for a month and I was sold! I had our telecom group order me my very first "corporate" device. It for me was/is perfect. Does everything I need in a device and more. It fits the form factor I wanted, has the speed and functionality I desired, has the apps I've dreamed of, and is a productivity, multi-tasking workhorse! I will expound on the virtues of this phone as well as the apps that I have come to "need" and love in future blog posts. Suffice to say it will take quite a few posts to cover off all of the awesomeness that is Nexus One!
So the Blackberry 8800? What are you doing here? Don't ask... Hello this is 2007 calling and "we want our phone back..." Actually what happened involved my son, a high shelf and my phone "falling"... So the Nexus is in for repairs/replacement and I think in some kind of Telecom humour I was given a Blackberry 8800 as a replacement phone. Wow, this was *not* the phone evolution I had envisioned. No camera, No native twitter/facebook apps, no high speed data. It was sitting at 2G Edge speeds... Not quite what this data hungry power user had been used to. I complained a little, (a lot?) and after one month of use our friendly telecom crew hooked me up with... the mighty Apple iPhone 3GS.
The Apple iPhone 3GS. Was this phone as good as all the Steve Jobs fuelled hype? I know that iPhone4 had just arrived to 3GS was already passe but after installing a LOT of Apple software on my laptop I was able to install iOS4 so here I was running a device that actually was up to current standards. Camera, Check. Social Media, Check. Browser, Check. Many things that weren't great for me but this was a LARGE step up from the BB 8800. Actually got to enjoy the device and how it worked with its single button simplicity. Simplicity is probably the best word for iPhone. It is simple. It does a lot of things and does them well, just one thing at a time. I missed the multitasking glory of my Android but did enjoy that the iPhone rarely hiccupped and seemed to meet most of my needs. I ended up using this phone for a month and actually rather enjoyed it! So iPhone people, I tried your device and found it *acceptable*. A good device but Android it is not.
We are finally up to current. Last week our Telecom people called me and let me know that somehow the dealer we use had messed up and my phone is possibly lost... So while we are awaiting the resolution of that, I have the use of another Nexus One that they dug up for me! Ahhhh. Within 5 minutes of getting my hands on it and setting it up and seeing its snappy response and completely customizeable interface and widgets I remembered why it is my true love. My fingers began to remember where the buttons were and we were reunited! Happy Happy Joy Joy! So I will expound the virtues of the Nexus One in future posts and for now, I wait...
Oh, and if a person were counting owned were:
2 Nokia's
3 Motorola's
2 Blackberry's
1 iPhone
2 HTCs
1 Sony
 |
| Nokia 5180 - Remember this? (owned 1998-2004) |
 | |
| Motorola v551 (owned 2004-2005) |
Next was the Motorola v551. I had always coveted the "flip" phones and this one was cheap with a contract so made the move from pay/go to contract. This one had a camera and I could play Gauntlet on it! This phone became the winner of a game of hide and seek and so I had to get something else. Now that I had some experience as a phone owner, I understood the desire for slim form factor as well as a desire for "cool factor". Next up?
 |
| Motorola Razr v3t (owned 2005-2008) |
The Razr.
I really loved this phone. I downloaded Motorola phone tools, a hex editor and I was in my geeky programmer heaven as I hacked and modded the phone. Yes, I am a NERD! Had my "Back in Black" ring tone and custom hacked skinning of the UI. So cool, and the phone worked too. Sadly I kept cracking the outer glass cover and after 3 good years of service, it began to drop calls.
 |
| Nokia E71 (owned 2008- Q4 2009) |
Did I say I loved the Razr? It was one level of phone love. With the E71 a whole new level of phone love was experienced. This was my first experience with what I'll call a "superphone". basically a computer in your hand. At the time, it had front and rear cameras including LED flash, wifi, bluetooth, voip calling, free document editing, full browser INCLUDING FLASH, OVI maps and a super fast OS (symbian s60 3rd edition for the geeks out there) I got A LOT of mileage out of this phone. Had installed Garmin Turn by Turn voice Nav as well as internet radio and wefi! These apps exposed me to the world of apps and that the phone is important, but available apps is all the MORE. Ahh my first love. At times, I still miss you. the first phone I really loved, the Nokia E71.
 |
| Blackberry Bold 9800 (owned Q42009) |
With a change in jobs came the ability to have a work paid for device. This was a new concept and frankly VERY attractive. (Although with the amount of "volunteer" work I do on my device now I wonder who gets the better deal :-)" Corporate standard of course was Blackberry. At the time the new optical touchpad Blackberry Bold 9800 had recently come out and so this was my first "corporate" device. I tried this phone for 1 month and have to say did enjoy it although the apps were VERY limited compared to the OVI store offerings and the phone was very NON customizeable when comparing with the E71. Still spoiled by my first love, I waited to try something else.
 |
| Motorola Milestone (owned Q1 2010) |
"Something else" did show up in the DROID, released in Canada as the Motorola Milestone. Was this the next true love? Having connections with people in our Telecom department, they had offered to allow me to demo phones for them if I would write up pros/cons on the device and its use within the corporation. I finally got my hands on the Milestone. Probably a great phone and I really wanted to like it but it was too heavy and I realized that the combining of physical keyboard with large screen, which was my initial attraction as I was trying to move away from physical keyboard, was too annoying. It sat like a led weight in my pocket. I only explored this phone for about 2 weeks but what I did get to see first hand was ANDROID...
 |
| Sony Xperia X10 (owned Q1 2010) |
I liked Android OS. VERY powerful, fast and customizeable. In keeping with Android I thought the friendstream application looked handy on the Sony Xperia X10. It was the full move to no more physical keyboard. I liked the screen on this phone but it was too big in my hand it didn't "fit" right. Wasn't a huge fan of "friendstream" either. This phone was actually a fail IMO.
 |
| HTC Google Nexus One (owned Q2 2010 - end of Q3 2010) |
 |
| Blackberry 8800 (owned Q3 2010 - Q3 2010) |
 |
| Apple iPhone 3GS running iOS4 (owned Q3 2010 - Q3 2010) |
| |||
| HTC Google Nexus One (owned Q3 2010 - ?) |
We are finally up to current. Last week our Telecom people called me and let me know that somehow the dealer we use had messed up and my phone is possibly lost... So while we are awaiting the resolution of that, I have the use of another Nexus One that they dug up for me! Ahhhh. Within 5 minutes of getting my hands on it and setting it up and seeing its snappy response and completely customizeable interface and widgets I remembered why it is my true love. My fingers began to remember where the buttons were and we were reunited! Happy Happy Joy Joy! So I will expound the virtues of the Nexus One in future posts and for now, I wait...
Oh, and if a person were counting owned were:
2 Nokia's
3 Motorola's
2 Blackberry's
1 iPhone
2 HTCs
1 Sony
Aah! Love the article and I think it's true love at last for me too with the Nexus One! Also, I owned a Motorola 'Rizr', similar to the Razr. And the E63 among others. :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd the similarities continue... I wonder if we were twins seperated at birth? =)
ReplyDeletemy fav is iphone 4
ReplyDelete